If you want the unvarnished truth,these two recall Gehrig and Ruth.Howard knocks in four with a double and upper deck bomb,Utley two homeruns, three RBIs with perfect aplomb.To miss the playoffs would be uncouth.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 2005 – WHAT WENT WRONG I ain’t taking the blame for this one, pal. I wore my BASEBALL: A WAY OF LIFE tee shirt until it literally fell apart. Ask Liddy, she tried her damndest to patch the holes. All I can say is if I let her do that the Phils would for sure not have survived until that final line-drive Cubs out in Houston that if it had been hit a couple of feet one way or the other would have tied the game, and who knows what would have happened after that? So we lost one more time, and I wonder how long I’ll remember the Billy Wagner flame ball that Craig Biggio turned around for a three-run 8th inning shocker after David Bell booted what would have been a game-ending ground ball. Or the 8th inning three-run homer Urbina gave up to Ramon Castro, Mike Piazza’s backup. Or the Phillies leading the Mets 5-2 in the 8th in the last week of the season only to have Urbina cough it up again. Which is worse? To lose it like this, on the final pitch of the season, or to fall out of it in August? The end result is the same- Phillies lose. This is better. We have the satisfaction of knowing that this time the Phillies have the best team, but for two or three pitches out of the 40,000 or so that were thrown. Front-running fans of the Braves, Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Angels will laugh, even scoff at this, as indeed will Philadelphia sportswriters, and sports radio loudmouths, to say nothing of all those misguided Eagles’ fans, but let them- we who have mastered the knack of how to root for a losing ballclub know how to take our pleasures where they are to be found. Think Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins waiting ‘til next year to continue his 36-game hitting streak.